traffic report

What’s the best part of planning a wedding? Having a blog that allows for passive income while you are busy planning! This last month went by in a complete whirlwind. I’m so thankful that my blog was able to keep up despite me not getting to pay attention to it!

This month I earned $8.39 compared to last month’s $19.24! You might think, “Hey you went down!” That might be true but the key to this blog is passive income, and we achieved that.

In this post I’m going to breakdown my traffic, revenue sources, and goals. These posts keep me on track and hopefully serve as motivation for you too!

Of course to earn a passive income with a blog you need to start your own blog. Easy setup for your site can be found here: 15 Minute Quick Start to Hosting with Bluehost. Feel free to message me with any questions, I’m here to help with anything you can think to ask.

Launched Secret to Start Your Site in 7 Days

With the 7 Day Secrets, you will receive information to ensure your blog’s success. Your questions will be answered, and the mystery about starting a blog will be nonexistent. I want your blog to be a money making powerhouse, and I share all my social media tips for fast growth.

Wanting to stay home is natural, starting a blog or an online business can be natural too. If you have a business or an idea, having a self hosted site is 100% necessary for monetization. You’re leaving too much on the table if you don’t have a place where people can find you. The investment is minimal, and refundable. With hosting you have the ability to earn money just from site traffic, and you can expand into the wonderful world of affiliate marketing at anytime. Check out my quick start guide here: Start a WordPress blog with Bluehost.

Shareasale just updated their dashboard and it is fabulous! With the new and improved merchant search it’s easier than ever to find great companies to support and earn from. Shareasale also makes all of your incoming transactions very transparent! My favorites are currently: Tailwind,ModCloth, and PicMonkey. Feel free to click the links if you’re looking to join a new affiliate network.

So What Happened To Convertkit?

Honestly, I couldn’t justify the cost after my free trial was over. I want the blog to be more profitable before I invest money into marketing. With my current email program, Sumo I am able to create email templates, do A/B testing, and create 5 different popup types, all for free. Convertkit is amazing, but I’m going to grow my subscriber list more before I delve into that. If you are looking for a free place to grow your subscriber list I highly suggest Sumo.

Social Media Goals:

Pinterest Goal 1,400. Failed!From 1,181 to 1,392 followers! Amazing! I’m not disappointed at all. Every month we grow and we got so close! I had less time to share this month,, and Tailwind saved my bacon with automated pinning. It’s so important to consistently share. My fails this month directly correlate with sharing less. Follow me on Pinterest and feel free to message me at anytime with Pinterest questions. If you would like to join my Connect and Share Group Board you can do so here. It’s an active board with great repin rates, use it to grow your own following. My goal is to reach 1,475 followers this month.

Instagram Goal 450. Failed! I went from 357 to 401 lovely followers on Instagram. Missing this goal was not surprising and it was my fault. Use the lesson for yourself! It absolutely shows you how important it is to consistently share. Let’s try this again! This month I hope to actually get my count up to 450. I always follow back. Find me on Instagram here: Instagram.

Twitter. Goal 310. Failed!I went from 221 to 247 followers. Twitter has been a great source of traffic, and a reshare can be worth it’s weight in gold. My goal will be to hit 310 for October. Find me on Twitter (I love retweeting content.)

Facebook Page Follows. Goal 125. Accomplished!From 165 to 279 follows. How did that happen? I really have to credit facebook success to facebook groups and pages! Feel free to join mine here: Facebook Page. Explore FB pages as a source for new readers and people you can support. If I reach 375 for October I will be elated!

Blog Subscribers. Goal 100. Accomplished! From 65 to 132 subscribers. I’ll be sending out blog interview questions to help my subscribers promote their own blogs for free. This will help to establish more back links for any bloggers looking to up their SEO and page views. I would love to get up to 210 subscribers for October.

Having time for social media is one of the MOST IMPORTANT parts of blogging. You should be sharing WAY MORE than you are writing. Great content is 100% necessary, but that won’t matter if no one sees it. I have a very aggressive social media sharing strategy. Find it here The Social Media Scorecard to blast your accounts!

Blog Goals

Share 5 Blog Posts Total. Failed! I shared 4 in total this month! Despite that, it was an exciting month and I received more views than ever before. Without Tailwind I could never, ever share as much on Pinterest as I currently do. Pinterest is going to be a huge part of your traffic while you gain your individual following. Nurse it as often as possible. Share other pinner’s pins more than your own, that’s the key to success.

Create a Blogging Guide.Success! Sharing Secrets to Starting Your Blog in 7 Days is something that I aimed to do for the last 4 months. Don’t let your time get away from you. When you are creating a guide make sure to outline everything you want to write. It makes things infinitely easier, and will keep you on task and motivated.

Questionnaire for My Subscribers to Share. Failed! This is partially created, and I hope to share it soon. A lot of us are blogging and I want to provide a space for you guys to share your work and products. Please feel free to message me or subscribe to the blog if you’re already interested.

Combine all Blogging Printables to Offer a Comprehensive Pack.Success! In my Secrets to Blogging Success in 7 Days I offer all of the blogging printables. Get yours now by subscribing it includes my special Scorecard to blast your social media with a very aggressive sharing strategy.

Engage With My Tailwind Tribe. Accomplished! Utilize the program in a completely free way with tribes! Tribes are a free place for you to post your pins, but need an invite much like a groupboard on pinterest. Go right here: Promote Your Blog- The Rising Damsel Tribe for your invite. Tribes will always be free, but if you do join Tailwind you will get a free month through my link.

Blog Income Breakdown

TrustedHouseSitters: $.50 With trusted housesitters you can stay anywhere in the entire world FOR FREE as an international petsitter! Check out the cute animals who need friends while their owners travel by going here. Trustedhousesitters is a great way to see the world, and you can google and research the surrounding area for tons of local exploration and an authentic experience.

Ebates: $1.98 I love ebates because of how easy it is to save money. Just add the browser extension and easily cruise for discounts. I check ebates before I buy anything.

Ibotta Sign Up: $5.00 Ibotta is an incredibly easy way to save money on products that you are already going to buy. Easily earn coupons through quick quizes or snap your receipts to save.

$8.31!!!

October Goals

Share Consistently. Planning a small wedding is infinitely less time consuming than a big one. Nevertheless I was a bit of a slacker on the social media front this month and boy did it show.

Post 5 Instagram Pictures.

Continue to research promoted opportunities.

Create Email Templates. With the success of starting my subscriber list, it’s time to start using it! It’s my goal this month to reach out to my subscribers at least twice per month.

Continue to Reach Out for Guest Posting Opportunities. Reaching out to more successful bloggers can be intimidating, but it’s exactly what we all need to do in order to grow our reach.

Final Thoughts

Starting a blog was the best thing that I ever did for myself! I hope to inspire you to find your own creative outlet and become financially independent. If you’re ready to jump into blogging I suggest you read my post Start a WordPress blog with Bluehost. It will walk you through an easy setup, and as always feel free to message me, I’m happy to help! For $3.95 a month with Bluehost you can take the next step to starting something great.

Have you made any steps toward change recently? Let me know so I can cheer you on! Every step is a step towards financial independence and we are all worth it. Please subscribe! There are lots of freebies and perks on their way. Don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest. I’d love to help spread your content. Together we will be great.

Samantha is the owner and creator of The Rising Damsel. She's an HR vet with a passion for helping people take control of their future. Contact her at samanthaj@therisingdamsel.com for questions or collaboration.

You got laid off!? That’s terrible! What have you been doing with all of your time? Changing my life, hustlin my finances, enjoying life! When I got laid off I knew it was time to take blogging and making money through my blog seriously.

This month I earned $19.24 compared to last month’s $1.98! It’s obvious my efforts now will amount to a great passive income in the future, and I’m ecstatic!

In this post I’m going to breakdown my traffic, revenue sources, and goals. These posts keep me on track, but more importantly they are going to show you that it’s possible to earn a passive income through blogging too!

Of course to earn a passive income with a blog you need to start your own blog, and I can definitely help with that. Easy setup for your blog can be found here: 15 Minute Quick Start to Hosting with Bluehost. Feel free to message me with any questions, I’m here to help with anything you can think to ask.

Views:1,180 / 2,285Total Blog Views: 4,788 / 6,875

Launched my Free Guide to Happiness

Creating this guide opened my own eyes to how easy it is to make small tweaks to create a more positive life. This guide focuses on your goals, and helping you to get things done. We forget what a sense of fulfillment accomplishment brings. This is much more than look for rainbows, it provides actionable suggestions for common goals as well as ways to make life easier. Check out the first 11 tips here: The Happier Life You Desire is Closer Than You Think- A Free Guide and get the whole guide by subscribing to the blog.

I have so much love for my favorite my favorite advertising network. You might wonder why I don’t use google adsense? Well, I used adsense for 6 years before switching platforms, and Chitika’s up to date analytics and payouts BLOW adsense away. With adsense, it seemed like I was waiting a whole week for analytics. With Chitika you can run analytics on anything from ad space to referral numbers daily, the program is a dream. Chitika also works with adsense, so you can use both and compare until you make the switch over. Checking on my Chitika stats is a daily ritual that peps me up for the rest of the day. I highly suggest the positivity boost especially if you’re sick of adsense.

Social Media Goals:

Pinterest Goal 1,100. Accomplished!From 917 to 1,181 followers! That’s 264 in one month! Smashed this one again using my own printables. I better up the goal and try to hit 1,400 by the end of September. I’d love it if you followed me here: Pinterest.

Instagram Goal 350. Accomplished! I went from 273 to 357 lovely followers on Instagram. This month I hope to getmy count up to 435. I always follow back. Find me on Instagram here: Instagram.

Twitter. Goal 200. Accomplished! I went from 148 to 221followers. Twitter has been a great source of traffic, and a reshare can be worth it’s weight in gold. My goal will be to hit 310 for September. Find me on Twitter here: Twitter

Facebook Page Follows. Goal 125. Accomplished!From 98 to 165follows. Woah! How did that happen? I really have to credit facebook success to facebook groups and pages! Feel free to join mine here: Facebook Page. I’ve learned so much from groups already, and if you have a bad day there’s 1000’s of people to tell you ‘it’s gonna be ok!’

Blog Subscribers. Goal 70. Failed!From 30 to 65 subscribers. After the month started I realized my goal was a little ambitious, and I can’t believe we got as close as we did. Thank you to all you lovelies who subscribed, I have huge plans for you guys! Soon I’ll be sending out blog interview questions to help my subscribers promote their own blogs for free. This will help to establish more back links for any bloggers looking to up their SEO and page views. When you subscribe you also get the The Social Media Scorecard which blasted my pinterest! I would love to get up to 100 subscribers for September.

Blog Goals

Set Up Convertkit.Accomplished!Well technically I chose to not use Convertkit, just yet. I set up my existing Sumo account to send auto-response emails, which is what I was hoping to accomplish for the month! Once I have more time to dedicate to Convertkit I will sign up again. They’re customer service was phenomenal even when I said I wasn’t extending my free trial. They will definitely get my business back.

Create 5 day freebie. FAILish!Instead of a 5 day freebie I created a 31 day Happiness Guide. Still a win, but not the goal.

Share 5 blog posts. Accomplished!4 posts and 1 income report counts!

Create More Free Lead Magnets. Accomplished!I wanted to create something that would benefit your everyday life and that’s what I did with the Get Happy Guide! We rush, we take things for granted, we do things the hard way, and we don’t have to! Just using some of my tips consistently will get you huge results! Get it today by subscribing to the blog, start taking steps towards change and a better tomorrow!

Increase Pinterest and Social Media Follower Counts. Accomplished!
I drastically increased the amount of pins I schedule with Tailwind. Through a previous error in scheduling I was unknowingly pinning 50-75 times a day oops. My traffic grew like crazy, but of course when I corrected the error my follower count went stagnant! This unprovoked experiment has shown me that pinning 50 times a day is optimal and needed for growth. The only feasible way I can do this is with Tailwind. Before tailwind I was ripping my hair out trying to pin all day and hated Pinterest. Now I spend 15 minutes and it’s my favorite place to share. Without auto-scheduling I wouldn’t have half my traffic. Use my link to get a month free of Tailwind to see for yourself. I’m here to help, so please don’t hesitate to message with questions.

Research Guest Posting Opportunities. Fail! To be honest I’m scared to have others blog on my blog. I don’t understand the logistics, and unfortunately I let that intimidation get the best of me.

Engage With My Tailwind Tribe. Accomplished! By actively pinning more content to tailwind tribes, I’ve seen an increase in my repins. You already know the reason I still pin is because ofTailwind. You can utilize the program in a completely free way with tribes! Tribes are a free place for you to post your pins, but need an invite much like a groupboard on pinterest. Go right here: Promote Your Blog- The Rising Damsel Tribe for your invite. Tribes will always be free, but if you do join Tailwind you will get a free month through my link.

Increase Page Views. Accomplished!Blogging and sharing my content consistently has helped my traffic grow tremendously! I had the most views this month by far, and it was due to engaging in social media. Sharing to facebook, and pinterest have been my biggest traffic drivers by far! If you engage in facebook groups and pinterest group boards you won’t regret it! Spy on my pinterest group boards here: Group Boards are at the top! Join what you can and feel free to follow me while you’re there 🙂

Referrer Views

Facebook: 25 / 100 / 134 / 204 / 600

Pinterest: 83 / 104 /289 / 302 / 591

Stumbleupon: 302 / 305 / 215 / 246 / 144

Blog Income Breakdown

TrustedHouseSitters: $.50 With trusted housesitters you can stay anywhere in the entire world FOR FREE as an international petsitter! Check out the cute animals who need friends while their owners travel by going here. Trustedhousesitters is a great way to see the world, and you can google and research the surrounding area for tons of local exploration.

Ebates: $.69 I love ebates because of how easy it is to save money. Just add the browser extension and easily cruise for discounts. I check ebates before I buy anything. I’m usually on a buying freeze, but couldn’t resist a few sweaters at 80% off plus 3% cash back.

Tailwind: $15.00 credit. I’m excited lots of people are giving Tailwind a try! If you can’t tell from all my raving tailwind is my favorite auto-scheduling program out there. When used properly it has unlimited power to influence your site. Use my link to get a month free of Tailwind today.

$19.24 !!!

This is my best month yet and I have all of you to thank for it.

September Goals

Share 5 Blog Posts Total.

Create a 5 Day Blogging Guide. Pinterest has been so good to me and my blog, I really want to share my easy strategy for you to increase your follower counts. I found out the hard way so you don’t have to!

Questionnaire for My Subscribers to Share. My main goal for this site is to help people with their own career and finances. A lot of us are blogging and I want to provide a space for you guys to share your work and products. Please feel free to message me or subscribe to the blog if you’re already interested. The notifications should go out in the next week or two, of all my goals I’m most excited about this one.

Combine all Blogging Printables to Offer a Comprehensive Pack. I’d like to create a lead page so my printables are easier to find.

Send Out a Package of Stationery. More printables are coming soon.

Focus On Growing Instagram. For whatever reason I’m still shy when sharing pictures on Instagram. I need to start snapping and stop judging if something is ‘worthy’ of being shared.

Final Thoughts

Starting a blog was the best thing that I ever did for myself! I hope to inspire you to find your own creative outlet and become financially independent. If you’re ready to jump into blogging I suggest you read my post Start a WordPress blog with Bluehost. It will walk you through an easy setup, and as always feel free to message me, I’m happy to help

Have you made any steps toward change recently? Let me know so I can cheer you on! Every step is a step towards financial independence and we are all worth it. Please subscribe! There are lots of freebies and perks on their way. Don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest, I’d love to help spread your content. Together we will be great.

Samantha is the owner and creator of The Rising Damsel. She's an HR vet with a passion for helping people take control of their future. Contact her at samanthaj@therisingdamsel.com for questions or collaboration.

I’m so happy to see you here! It shows that you’re ready to make a positive impact on your life! If you’re ready to break away from a job that just doesn’t suit you, my tutorial will guide you and make it super easy to start a blog for just $3.95 per month. I also created some amazing printables that will help you skyrocket your growth and lead you to financial independence.

My mission with this blog is to get you on an awesome career path, while getting you past the fear of blogging so that you can form your very own blogging empire. No matter what stage of life you are in, you can make changes in order to have a better tomorrow. I’m going to tell you how I went about gaining followers, earning a small profit and how you can get on track to do it too.

I’m working my way up to full-time income as a blogger. Before I was laid off, I specialized in hiring practices and recruitment (my division got bought out and our HR department got cut). Blogging gives me the ability to reveal my HR secrets, but I’m also passionate to share the rewards of starting your own blog.

As a blogger, I want to share the beginning stages of my blog growth and income reports because it gives me accountability. I hope that it inspires you to start your own blog and take the steps towards achieving a full-time, work from home income.

This month I am going to shake up the order of my income report. Let’s kick it off.

My resource page is filled with a growing list of companies that I trust and that are treating me right. Check mine out above, and use it to create your own!

Took Control of My Subscriber List

GROW YOUR LIST, YOU HAVE TO GROW YOUR LIST! Who hasn’t heard that? Well I signed up for Convertkit. Signing up to Convertkit is something that I had considered for quite some time. Pulling the trigger on the program felt great. I am excited to work with a company that is not plagued by rumors of emails being sent straight to spam. I launched my subscriber list, also my ‘The Social Media Scorecard’ which helps you prioritize and take control of your social media accounts! Investing in Convertkit assures that my readers receive posts that benefit their personal lives and career.

When you’re ready for an email marketing platform, the peace of mind that Convertkit offers is worth every penny. Your email subscriber list is the BLOOD of your blog, the sooner you start your list the better it will be for you. I would be honored if you would subscribe 🙂 you can do so in the right scroll bar.

Quality pinterest images is what will bring on more repins and visits to your blog. I began creating new images for my past posts to see the results. To my surprise, I received even more repins than the initial time. That just proved it for me! Don’t forget to renew and share your old content to continuously get it on people’s radar. You’reconstantly adding new followers and an old pin might strike a new fancy.

Upped Instagram Presence

I love taking pictures. Instagram requires work just as pinterest does.Thankfully like pinterest, people just want love and acknowledgement. If you show some love in the form of a heart or a follow, people will often reciprocate. My facebook groups have been a great source of inspiration for posting instagram photos, and I truly appreciate that. Some companies will base your affiliate pay rate on followers, and some are specific to account type. Make sure and cover all your bases. There are plenty of option opportunities in instagram accounts that don’t revolve around makeup and food, so don’t let that stop you like it did me. Your random pictures or your tailored stock photos have a place to call home. Instagram is a fantastic community for growth and support, don’t ignore it like I had. If you’re struggling with Instagram, check out my profile here, I always follow back.

Continued to Pinterest Group Board

I love my group board! Looking to join one? Just click here: Connect and Share. If you are the owner of a group board, make sure that you tend to your followers. “What do you mean“ you might ask? What I mean is that you need to make sure that you are sharing their content on your boards, clicking their images, engaging and repinning. If you want YOUR group board to rank higher in THEIR analytics, you need to make sure and show it in your actions. If someone sees continued growth and action in your group board, they will continue to pin there. BOOM, you got growth.

Social Media Goals:

Pinterest Goal 820. Accomplished!From 676 to 917 followers! Smashed this one again using my own printables. I guess I better up the goal and try to hit 1,100 by the end of August. Can we do it? I think so!

Instagram Goal 283. Failed! I went from 183 to 273 lovely followers on Instagram. I still consider this a win despite not hitting my goal. I’m trying to up my Instagram game and take more photos, but I refuse to ever post for the sake of posting. This month I hope to getmy count up to 350.

Twitter. Goal 140. Accomplished!I went from 98 to 148 followers. Twitter has been a great source of traffic, and a reshare can be worth it’s weight in gold. My goal will be to hit 200 for August.

Blog Subscribers. Accomplished!From 5 to 30 subscribers. Honestly, I had no expectations for building my list this first month (I love you guys thank you for joining me on this journey). I created a printable that fellow bloggers have found useful, and it has converted really well, I am so pleased to say. You can check out the post here: How The Social Media Scorecard can Skyrocket Your Traffic. When you subscribe, you will receive the same printable that blasted my pinterest! I would love to get up to 70 subscribers for August.

Facebook Page Follows. Accomplished!From 75 to 98follows. I also didn’t have a goal for this one just yet, but am so pleased with the results. Looking for 125 for August.

Referrer Views:

Pinterest: 83 / 104 /289 / 302

Stumbleupon: 302 / 305 / 215 / 246

Facebook: 25 / 100 / 134 / 204

I put the most effort in scheduling and interacting with the 3 social networks above. There are other sources for referrers, but keeping an eye on this helps me track which of my strategies are working in long term, so that I can share them with you! My numbers are steadily increasing over time which is all anyone can hope for!

July’s Goals- How did I do?

Get Convertkit. Accomplished!Convertkit is the ultimate mailing platform, and I’m glad I chose to work with them.

Share 6 blog posts. FAIL!I’m not sure how traveling bloggers do it. I need to work on how to blog even when I’m not ‘in the zone at home’. I was on vacation and nonstop sightseeing kept me busy.I did share 3 posts and 1 page.

Get Ahead of Posting.FAIL!Thankfully I have a ton of post ideas, I just need to get ahead of the writing game.

Increase Pinterest Follower Count. Accomplished! I had another smashingly successful month on Pinterest. I created a detailed post for you here: Skyrocket Your Traffic Using the Ultimate Social Media Scorecard plus free printables that will give you that BOOST you want. My new method of social media sharing has created a lot more free time and less anxiety.

Use Tailwind More Efficiently.Accomplished!Tailwind saves my sanity when it comes to pinning. Using their auto scheduler allows me to pin more than 50 times a day with ease. With 900 pins currently scheduled, I can worry about other things, and the peace of mind is worth the price for such a comprehensive scheduler. The analytics allow you to see what pins and boards are performing well with extraordinary detail, and I have been able to offer my readers more of the pins that benefit their lives. My engagement continues to grow steadily, I just love em can you tell?

Narrow Down and Focus.Accomplished! This is sort of an ‘accomplished-ish’. I definitely focused on everything that I needed to focus on this month, but I still need to work on my posting schedule.

Increase Page Views. FAIL! Definitely my fault. As I mentioned… really no clue how traveling bloggers do it! My mind is in a million different places when I’m away from my desk. I posted less than I wanted to this month, and I let 2 weeks go by without a peep. As a result my page views grew slightly stagnant.

Awin.com– $.50 from TrustedHouseSitters. Awin is a fantastic affiliate program! If you haven’t heard of it, I highly suggest you investigate. You can also sign up for Fiverr, and Swagbucks among many other lucrative affiliate programs.

Drum Roll Please! We made a total of $1.98 for July!

You might wonder why I would post an income report of less than $2.00. But I’ll tell you, I blogged for 5 years without making 1 single cent. We all have to start somewhere, and when I decided to start blogging seriously, I cut ties with my old blog. The point is, no matter where you are in your income journey, you can make a decision to start earning in a new totally fulfilling way. My goal is to make a full-time income within a year, which is totally possible if I’m consistent.

Blog Goals For August

Set Up Convertkit. Using a new program is always daunting, I’m so thankful that Convertkit has been extremely easy to get comfortable with. My goal is to create a workable form and use Convertkit solely.

Create 5 day freebie. The Social Media Scorecard has done so well that I would really like to expand on that in the form of a boot camp. With Convertkit, I can create a sequence of emails that will be sent out over the course of a few day. Social Media doesn’t have to be a mystery and I love helping with this issue.

Share 5 blog posts. I have been sticking to around 4-5 posts a month. That is definitely okay with me. I would rather write constructive helpful posts that focus on new tips to help you, rather than short posts riddled with boring over blogged suggestions. I feel like blogging daily would decrease the quality of work I produce.

Create More Free Lead Magnets. Creating printables is something I find relaxing and enjoyable. Getting to share them through my blog is just a bonus. (Try to create a freebie around something that you enjoy doing so that it never becomes a chore).

Increase Pinterest and Social Media Follower Counts. While my blog is growing, I absolutely adore checking in on my social media stats. Use this as your own confidence booster! We might not always get the most page views, but seeing a new follower just makes it all worthwhile.

Research Guest Posting Opportunities. I’m trying to be strategic in my efforts. With a working subscriber list, I can now gather emails from folks who might come to my blog based on an article that I write for another site. It was really important for me to do this in order to not miss out on followers. Remember this tip in your own efforts. Before launching anything, ensure that your subscriber lists are active and working.

Engage With My Tailwind Tribe. SCREAMING FROM THE RAFTERS! Tailwind is the reason I still pin. I credit at least 75% of my success on Pinterest to Tailwind. Tailwind tribes are a free place for you to post your pins. A ‘tribe’ is very similar to a group board. Tribes are part of Tailwind, but this feature is 100% FREE! It’s an amazing source for collaboration. I currently spend a lot of time on Tailwind scheduling, and need to concentrate on sharing more content to and from the Tribes. Much like Pinterest, sharing other people’s content is what will get you noticed! If you would like a place to share your content please drop some pins on my tribe board here: Promote Your Blog- Tribe. Tribes will always be free, but if you do join Tailwind you will get a free month through my link.

Increase Page Views. The vacations have been had. I no longer will abandon my blog halfway through the month. Pinterest and Facebook can really save your bacon if your posting game is light. I’m excited to see what a full month of blogging will bring!

Why is Social Media so Important?

Your social media sharing strategy is what will direct people to your blog. SEO is important, of course it can’t be ignored, but an engaged reader has great benefits as well. Ultimately, engaged readers are what will get you closer to a full time income, treat them well and nurse other’s growth to see results in your own.

Leads That Worked:

The Ultimate Social Media Scorecard was created to make it easy and fun to track ALL of your social media accounts. Organize yourself, track your score, challenge yourself to achieve a higher score and watch the followers flock. It’s tried and true. I was sick of pulling my hair out, trying to manage all my accounts, use this tracker to save your sanity. For a more detailed account of what and when to post, see my post:Skyrocket Your Traffic Using the Ultimate Social Media Scorecardyou will be blown away by how your proactiveness will affect your numbers! I gained 241 pinterest followers in less than a month by supporting fellow bloggers, and by using the strategies and printables in the post.

If you’re new to blogging and affiliate marketing, I highly suggest you read my article Ultimate Tips and Widgets for Monetization to get you on track to creating a financially stable situation for your family! I take all the stress and questions away so that you can focus on building your business! There’s no reason to feel overwhelmed, so many people already have it figured it out! I can get you there too.

Ready to become more savvy when it comes to your life and finances? You’ll love these!

Starting a blog was the best thing that I ever did for myself. I hope to inspire each of you to find your own creative outlet and become financially independent. Check out these posts to get you started:

Writing my traffic updates is therapeutic. If you’re uncomfortable posting your results, I highly recommend you take the time to think about them and contemplate the future of your business in your own productive way.

What have you accomplished lately? Every step is a step towards financial independence and we are all worth it. Please subscribe! I would love to share my future helpful tips with you. Together we will be great.

Samantha is the owner and creator of The Rising Damsel. She's an HR vet with a passion for helping people take control of their future. Contact her at samanthaj@therisingdamsel.com for questions or collaboration.

We have traction! Do you wake up everyday excited to take one more step towards your dreams? Blogging gave me the ability to do just that. I’m excited to invest time in myself and be able to make connections with like-minded people who are also trying to succeed. The journey is a breath of fresh air alongside others trying to better themselves. So nice not just dealing with the grind and counting down the hours. To me, freedom means never having to clock in again, even if it means working 100 hours a week, I will do it for myself. This mantra has kept me strong. For me there is no other option. I was just let go from my job. I’m looking at it as a scary blessing in disguise and I am determined to not waste away this opportunity.

I dashed and rekindled my dreams several times this month. Losing your job is hard. Despite not wanting to work for a company, I did get self fulfillment from helping people find employment. It was bittersweet, but once I felt freedom, I immediately felt doubt. ‘I’m going to take a chance at blogging instead of immediately jumping onto a new desperate opportunity?’ “Yes”….’You turned down a job to keep blogging?’…. “Yes”. That’s how much I believe in this. Call me naïve, but I know success is out there for all of us.

If you haven’t already read my past updates, you might wonder “Why is she publishing when she’s such a newbie?” Well, it’s because I know a lot of us are in the same boat. Our successes, failures and ability to learn and share will help us all grow together.

Blog Cost

When I signed up for hosting through Bluehost I opted for a 3 year plan. It’s a good idea to do likewise as you can get a refund at any point. You will find that paying upfront for most monthly services will save you considerably. I also chose a yearly plan with Tailwind, which netted me a free month. At this point, my blog costs can be estimated at $14.00 per month.

Ready to monetize your site, add widgets, offer any service, or freelancing? Being self hosted is a must. For just $3.95 a month you can own your site and all its content through Bluehost. Run your own advertisements, sign up for affiliate networks and start pulling in money for the views you are already getting. Use my helpful guide to get set up with WordPress and Bluehost Start Your Own Blog with Bluehost.

What Got Accomplished in June?

Affiliate Research

I love the affiliate networks that I work with. I’m going to share with you a huge secret; look into the affiliate programs that are successful in your niche. Seems obvious, but what I’m saying is actually this: If a successful ‘100,000 visitors a day’ blogger makes $25 bucks a month on an affiliate product; assess if it’s worth your time based on your follower count. Typically popular affiliate products breed more questions on how to best be used. This can be your competitive advantage if you have had great success using the program. Tailwind is a perfect example of this. *Just because a popular blogger isn’t successful with an affiliate, doesn’t automatically mean you won’t be either. You might just need to know more about the products conversion rates.*

Do your research on each affiliate you sign up for and make sure you are an avid user of the product to offer authentic opinions. The more I blog, the more obvious it is to me that someone hasn’t actually used what they are peddling. This is simply what has worked for me.

Chitika If you’re a blogger looking for alternatives to Adsense, I highly suggest Chitika. Chitika pays out at $10.00. I switched last month, and I am so glad I did. The first thing that I noticed is Chitika offers a much more consistent analytics than Adsense and their site is easier to navigate. Their advertisements are easy to place and their analytics are super easy to understand. If you are looking for an addition or an alternative, I love Chitika and the ads that they place are much more relevant to my niche.

Printables

My printables are officially available by subscribing to my blog.The Ultimate Social Media Scorecard– An interactive Scorecard that helps you to track your goals and social media progress on up to 12 accounts. Challenge yourself weekly to increase your score and see how positively it influences your stats!Blog Post Planner– A place for you to plan a post and make sure all viral elements are present.Hashtag Tracker– Use this to ensure you are implementing a hashtag strategy on every post and every picture that goes on your blog.Password Keeper– Keep track of past and present passwords to avoid future confusion and crossover.These printables have saved me SO much time and confusion. Using The Ultimate Social Media Scorecard I increased my pinterest followers by 220 this month alone. You can get PDFs of all the printables right to your inbox by subscribing to the blog.

Facebook

Facebook has been a continued source of great traffic for my blog. Get involved with Facebook group boards! The amount of positivity is infectious. The like-mindedness is perfect for when you are feeling a little discouraged. Promo days and share days let you potentially share your link or social media with thousands of people. I think a misconception new bloggers have is that they need to create their own group board. You absolutely should do it, but the way you are going to get traffic is by interacting on boards that are well established.

Tailwind Utilization / Pinterest Follower Increase

If you have followed along, you know I love Pinterest. I had some insane success with Pinterest this month and completely smashed my goals. I honestly couldn’t thank Tailwind enough. It’s the first product I ever invested in for my blog, after my hosting. I continue to use Pinterest and Tailwind in conjunction with Facebook Groups. When you can easily schedule 1 pin on a 15 day interval over 12 boards, you don’t have to worry about spamming your friends. Stay tuned in for a detailed Tailwind Post soon as I sense there are tons of questions.

We made some money this month! I was tempted to not share it, and treat this as a traffic report. BUT I want to encourage others who might be scared to share their results too. Remember we are accomplishing something by not giving up and also having the courage to try for a better life!

Results

Here’s What was earned so far on the blog. This first report is cumulative of the first 3 months.Chitika – $2.29 (8,763 Impressions, CPM $.262)Shareasale – $.50 from a Tailwind leadCj.com Commission Junction – $.43 from SkyscannerAwin.com– $5.00 for an Awin.com signup. Awin is an Affiliate Network that you can use to sign up for Swagbucks, Fiverr and Trustedhousesitters.

Drum Roll Please ! We earned in total = $8.22!

Honorable MentionEbates– $18.26. This is based on a tiered system as well as the purchases I’ve made. For that reason I did not include it in the blog earnings. However money was earned / saved based on blogging research and having signed up for ebates. You just need to be proactive and check to see if there is a deal through their site before you make a purchase. If you haven’t heard of Ebates, it’s a cash back rewards program. You get $10.00 cash just for signing up using my link. So that’s easy. Make money when you spend money. Access Ebates’ links to merchants, then shop as you normally would.

Blogging Posts:

Between my job termination and a bit of traveling this month flew by! I accomplished 4 posts in total.

Blogging Goals For May – How Did I do?

Get Ahead of Posting.Accomplished!Despite not posting as often as I wanted, I got ahead of future posts. I can already feel the stress relief.

Increase Pinterest Follower Count. Accomplished! Smashed!It was a close race at the end but I ended up destroying my goal.

Use Tailwind More Efficiently.Accomplished! Currently, I have 886 pins scheduled and 186 drafts ready to be assessed. I love not worry about Pinterest. You can accomplish SOOOO much with that new found hour or two a day.

Begin to Create My First Freebie. Accomplished! You can get a description of some of my helpful printables above. They have helped me tremendously in my organization and honestly, as an added source of encouragement. I would love it if you subscribed to the blog. Not only do you get blog post updates but free printables and the opportunity for future contests that i am working on.

Narrow Down and Focus.Accomplished!I can’t believe the amount of work I accomplished this month. It never feels like enough though. These traffic reports have kept me aware of all the work that has been done, and all that still needs to be done.

Increase Page Views. FAIL. Guess what happens when you don’t post for 2 & 1/2 weeks? People start to forget about you. My follower count was just stable this month, and I know that’s my fault. Thankfully, I had my pins auto-scheduled through Tailwind, which kept my traffic up.

May/ June – Ideally we want June to be Green

Followers:

Pinterest: Goal was to add 165 people to reach 600. Accomplished! New Total = 655 On June 1st. Added 220 in ONE MONTH!!!!!!Current 676 goal = 820 Instagram: Goal 116 Accomplished! New Total = 180 On June 1st. Added 93 in ONE MONTH! Current 183 goal = 283 Twitter: Goal 70 Accomplished! New Total = 94 On June 1st. Added 34 in ONE MONTH! Current 98 goal = 140 Blog Subscribers: 3 / 5 Facebook: 0 / 11 page likes. Now up to 75 facebook follows! Connect and Share Facebook Group Board: Brand New. I did not promote this at all this month. So it stayed stagnant.

Referrer Views:

I’m really happy to see that my Pinterest referrals are steadily climbing. With all the pinning that we do, it’s imperative that you keep good track of your stats. Just like with weight loss, SHOW ME THE RESULTS!

Blog Goals For June

Get Convertkit. Huge one. I want to efficiently grow my subscriber list. I’m currently using the free version of Sumo, which is amazing. However, transferring my subscribers later sounds unnecessary. The most successful bloggers I see online all utilize a combo of Sumo and Convertkit. Honestly not getting on board with convertkit feels like it will hold me back at this point. The cost is miniscule in relation to what the program offers, and it will be my next smart investment.

Share 6 blog posts. *Let’s try this again*

Get Ahead of Posting. I don’t have the excuse of being busy with work anymore. I’ve been busy writing random thoughts, but nothing solid. It’s going to be my goal to pull all those posts together and get ahead of content.

Increase Pinterest Follower Count.

Use Tailwind More Efficiently. Even though my pins are scheduled, I need to continue to monitor timing of posts. Sometimes I unknowingly schedule 5 workout pins in a row, and I want to ensure varied content for my readers.

Narrow Down and Focus. I feel more focused than before. Even if I don’t feel like I’ve gotten enough accomplished, I definitely feel like my persistence will pay off.

Increase Page Views.

What’s the Plan?

Keep at it! I feel like I am constantly writing and gathering my thoughts, but not posting. Once I get my Convertkit set up, I think my emails and thought process will be much more organized. Month 3 through 6 must be hard for bloggers as you don’t see many income reports from this time frame. Maybe this is when people quit? I’m feeling the burn, but I’ll never quit.

I’m going to continue to do research on affiliates, because I love it frankly. When passion strikes, you can’t get enough.

How are you feeling with your blog right now? Are you in the beginning stages looking for some blog friends? Or are you a veteran who is already racking in the profits? I’d love to know where everyone is on this journey.

Ready to become more savvy when it comes to your life and finances? You’ll love these!

Ready to start your own blog? Starting a blog was the best thing that I ever did for myself. I hope to inspire each of you to find your own creative outlet and become financially independent. Check out these posts to get you started:

Don’t forget to get the printables. You can subscribe at the bottom right of the blog or in the right sidebar.

Find me on Pinterest, I’m an active pinner and share content to help you improve your life and finances. If you’re looking for a free Tailwind Tribe try The Rising Damsel’s brand new one: Promote Your Blog – A Rising Damsel Tribe. It’s a free place to share your pins and gain followers. Together we will succeed.

Samantha is the owner and creator of The Rising Damsel. She's an HR vet with a passion for helping people take control of their future. Contact her at samanthaj@therisingdamsel.com for questions or collaboration.

Get the Social Media Scorecard to blast your traffic! Subscribe for future posts and exclusive content.

Email Address

Footer

Affiliate Disclaimer

Please note that some of the links I include on this site are affiliate links. This means that I earn a small commission if you purchase the product through my links which is used to pay for the running costs of this website. I only recommend products and services that provide true value or ones I use myself. Thanks !!